I do not know her personally, but a reader does
I don't know whether you've heard that Catherine Montgomery died last night. I knew her particularly in the course of a three-week intensive speech therapy program in 1998 and a one-week refresher program a couple of years ago. Did you ever meet her? She was a very special person and touched a lot of people's lives... her work and the work of her institute was much broader than improvement of people's speech as narrowly defined. There is a big benefit in making people feel better about themselves and their lives, and she certainly did that.
7 comments:
I first met a younger Cathy Otto in 1987 when she had a small practice in downtown Manhattan. We spent the day together discussing stuttering and shared a meal in the evening. We discussed the possibility of us working together. She gave me a book on handling anxiety and panic attacks which I still have. Alas I went back home and she went on to become Catherine Montgomerey, Director of the American Institute for Stuttering. She had bigger plans for the future. What a great loss to the stuttering world.
Catherine was the founder and executive director of the American Institute for Stuttering in New York, which has offered three-week intensive workshops, individual therapy, therapist training, and support groups for more than 20 years.
She developed from a one-person operation to a substantial organization, with several other therapists, a supporting staff, and an active board of directors. Several years ago she converted the organization into a nonprofit organization as a more effective structure for the work of the organization. She and her staff have been actively involved in education, training, and writing.
Over the years, her work evolved beyond the narrow focus on improvement of speech techniques to a much broader focus on improving people's lives in the world.
In the past few years, the Institute has held a successful annual fund-raising benefit event with celebrity guests (once including Vice President Joe Biden). These fund-raisers are one component of a robust fund-raising program which supports scholarships, teaching, education, and the work of the institute.
She touched many, many people's lives.
http://stutteringtreatment.org/blog/catherine/
i just found out catherine passing just today when my son went for his speech therapy..she touched so many peoples life, give supports and aid only to change and give hope to those people in need and thats my son.... my heart goes to you catherine and to your family you left us with grace and pride.... i know our almighty is up there waiting for you....we love you and i thank god for your life because you were such a blessing!!!..may you rest in peace...
Cathy was great person and the best at what she did. My name is Harris and I was a hard case! She broke through my defenses systematically and gave me a chance to help myself which no one else had ever done. I had been through years and years of therapy as a kid. I hadn't had any therapy since around 1984 when I decided to try her program. I heard about it from a message beeper my friend had at the time. I took her intensive in 1996 I believe and left there knowing that I could do something about my stuttering if i chose to do so. It was quite eye opening and educational for myself and the other 5 people that were with me in that group.
Her life was a blessing for those who knew her and her untimely death was a tragedy for her family and all who knew her. Her extended family consisted of 1000's of those whom she halped over her career. It was also a great loss for the Worldwide Speech Therapy Community!
What an amazing person! She was an angel to me as she gave me the ability to shine and illustrate my true personality to the world. I took her 3-week intensive course back in 2001 and I still practice the techniques on a daily basis. As a result, I have been able to take on sales positions and have accepted invites for various speaking engagements. Before I met Catherine, there is no way I would have been able to do this. Because of her, my professional and personal lives have flourished. Thank you Catherine and I know you are looking down on us with that beautiful smile of yours.
Look it is always sad when someone dies and at that age. And it is always nice when someone devotes a large portion of their time to the cause of stuttering. And it is normal that a person, who is writing about someone who just died, agrees to write something, there is bound to be some exaggeration about how wonderful this person was mixed with some truth. And certainly the people who worked with her will claim there is no exaggeration which is what you would expect. But the AIS program did and does not work as well as everyone says and Catherine Montgomery was certainly a nice person, had a nice personality and tried to share with people what she had learned from self improvement but she does not leave a truly effective stuttering program.
Carl Herder, one of the therapists at the American Institute for Stuttering in New York, recently posted this on Facebook:
For those who knew Catherine Montgomery (founder of the American Institute for Stuttering) - Jon Montgomery died yesterday, after a battle with ALS. Jon grew up in Hell's Kitchen, and was known by many as a singer and music producer, and even for writing a few musicals. To all of us at AIS, however, we knew him as Catherine's husband. He never missed a staff party. He was so easy to talk to, and always had great stories to tell of the glory days of the rock n roll scene in Manhattan in the 70s and 80s. I'm glad I knew him. RIP Jon.
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